True South and motor

[zazu]

ok guys please bear with me, this is my 1st time that will be installing a motorized system( Geosat90cm with gs120 motor) so i am sure i will be adding to this thread throughout the day, i am trying to get a jump start on this job and was already outside with compass in hand and deciding which trees must come down.. now my true south is about 193 degrees, heres my 1st dilema,,do i understand that point is going to be the center of my dishes travel, so with SBS6 at 74w being the closest sat....so what if i dont want the sats that are lower in degree less than 74 , ok, what if the sats that are past the furthest travel capapbilties of the motor if centered are ones i really want?well thats 1st thing i need to think about, i am still deciding where to mount , but if dish does not have to travel in the direction of less than 74, i may have really good spot,i have a great out in the open spot, but PSB from looking at a pic in another thread may have thought it to be too far,,any which way, i am gonna have one very long run, and will address that later unless anyone wants to throw some thoughts on power inserters/signal boosters and such thanks

also.. have a chicken before the egg question, from all you guys that have installed i am sure there is a helpful hint that you went thru with trial and error,,,, which order do i attach to the post, i am assuming the motors elv bracket and post clamps are 1st, but after that, do attach the motor head into the lnb arm/post clamp befor after i attach the dish, or do i put the motor head onot the elv bracket and then with dish fully assembled slid on, or do i attach everything but the dish face itself and after the motor and lnb arm with dishes elv brack, do i then attachs the dish face????

 

[PSB]

Yes your TRUE south (ZENITH) is in the middle of the ark and is your highest satellite in the sky.

Its not a good idea to use a motor for anything other than the satellites within its arc, some people do use two motors in two locations to cover the arc.


Make sure the mast/pole is EXACTLY plumb. In fact I off set them to take into account the weight of the dish/motor.

Once you have set the motor elevation do not touch it again, the dish elevation can be changed to peak the signal, check some of the below pictures for some tips.

 

[Bigkid47]

What's your zip?, we're in the same latitude...
I'm just getting started also.

 

[zazu]

ok, 1st-- thanks PSB for such an early helpfull hint, ( do you ever sleep!!!) i like these pics,,now i read your comment about 2 dishes in differnt locatiosn to cove the arc, my confusion with that is if they are still on my property isnt the tue south and the arc the same??thats where iget miffed, i would have thought that one motor would start deep right and move on a arc up to the zenith,where as the motor to the left would start deep left and move up to the zenith??
( which i am not against putting up multiple dishes, ,i aspire to eventually get the needed parts for ,my used channel masters and put the up giving me my dish farm!! ;-]
also, any hints on the assembly?? which order
thanks

 

[zazu]

alright , gave up on trying to fix my clothes washer, so i went up on the roof of my extra building( thank god its only a 1 story, i am not affriad of hights i have been to the very top of the volcanic mouth of Mt.Hood Oregon, but something about coming off the roof getting backwards on the ladder, i hate that!!) and put the motor's elevation bracket on a metal light post that runs up the side, my true south runs up the roof line pitch, so that should help..now, i guess i am going to bring up the motor itself and attach,,my question is do i haul the lnb arm that already attached tot he dishes elv bracket alone or do i put the dish face on and bring the whole thing up as one, if i should bring lnb arm and elv bracket without the dish, do i attach to the motor before the face???thanksi know i asked befoer , but i am ready to go up...

 

[jumpinjimmy]

I am sure glad you started this thread! I too am getting ready to mount my motorized setup and just assumed I should set up everything (motor, dish and LNB) on the ground and mount the whole assembled unit on the pole.
Now you have me wondering.

Thanks for starting this.

JJ

 

[zazu]

well jimmy, i'll tell what i did,, i did assmeble the lnb arm to the dish on th e groudn,i attached the motor to the elevation bracket,, let me tell you,, when you slide the post clamp onto the motors down pipe, have your small socket wrench in hand and tighten that clamp up before you attempt to slide the long bolt threw the clamp and motors down pipe, as well, tighten up the elevation nuts on the dishes bracket you can loosen later when you set the elevation basically have all bolts on dish and motor tight even if temp till you get that post clamp on,,i hope i wrote this for ya before you went up there....

 

[jumpinjimmy]

Thanks for the tips zazu.
Its windy and chilly right now so I won't me messing with it this weekend. I have a plan for setting the motor/dish at one time and not loosing any fingers in the process


JJ

 

[Tron]

Personally, I install the motor with the dish pole mount attached to the motor shaft and LNB arm first (without dish reflector). Once that is put together, its easy to bolt the dish on (just four bolts). The reflector gets in the way when you're tightening everything else up.

 

[zazu]

ok, yest i started to align my new dish motor combo ( no luck yet)i have not tired for the closet sat i was told to ;pick a sat about 15-2- degress waya and have the motor under usals move to that local and tweak sig and qual and scan that bird for 1st sat??i am sure what i was doing was wrong, because what i did was go back to "0" and tried to nail my true south setting ..SBS6, is my closest and i was trying for AMC,

 

[zazu]

ok, question,, when adjusting the dish to line up a sat, do i go back to zero, and try to hit my true south on the nose, or do i use my STB to move the motor to lets sat AMC3 and then slightly move the dish till i hit that sat??thanks

 

[PSB]

Unless (Like me) you have an EXACT true south satellite, yes set up the satellite on your receiver using USALS, the dish/motor will move slightly.

THEN manually move the assembly west/East until you hit the satellite, the dish elevation can be changed but the motor elevation should NEVER need touched!

 

[zazu]

ok i have been at this for 3 days, tongiht when i venture to it again it will be the 4th day.,,i am in 08060 westampton NJ,, my Lat is 40N my Long is 74.8W, i have the elv on the motor bracket set to 40, and the elv bracket on the dish set to 23ish/24, and using a compass set the dish to face about 193 degrees for true south , i am trying to pull in SBS6 at 74 degrees, ,but nada,, now here is my 1 st question..how do i learn what exaclty in my location i can expect to see on that sat, and my second question is about cable length,, could a cable be able to move the motor and still be too long for the recvr to get any sort of signal? but i have been pulling transponders from something up there as i tried diff sats and positions, thought i was trying to amc3 but i think it was on the sat thats at 91 because it had some HD channels pulled in that belongd to some encrypted system..

 

[PSB]

One sure way to find out is to remove the motor and start by locating and storing your true south bird!

Sounds like you were on IA-6 where there are scrambled HDTV channels (Home depot)

You may also have been on the Amazonas satellite where some channels are listed as HDTV but thats just the name of the network)

 

[zazu]

ok, 4 nights and the same thing with adjustments ,trying to hit SBS6,, yest i had tanberg services which had no video and only heard 2 seconds of audio when i switched t that channel, and 2 IRDETO DMG B-tv channels,, tonight after yet more adjusting, i got the 2 irdeto DMG, but got some NYC545 encoder which also said something like "acsent" i am at a loss???

 

[whiteoakharold]

Finding your true south satellite really is easier with out the motor. Set the skew on your LNBF and move it very slowly, when you think your moving slow enough it should probably be slower (1/16 of an inch and give it a couple seconds to focus) the only sat. you should pick up is the one your after. Oh yes don't forget to adjust your lnbf back to "O" when you put your motor back on :<)) whiteoakharold

 

[PSB]

No skew to set when aiming True South, or at all when using a motor!

 

[zazu]

ok, whatever i am doing i must be doing something wrong,,i mean i am at 74.8W. 40.0n,08060 westampton NJ,,SBS6 at 74 , should i bea ble to pull that with the motor no even moving the dish? and with the slight move of the motor it should be screaming,,, how much can my initial compass heading at my true south be off??

 

[PSB]

Magnetic deviation is around -13º in your area, if you are standing anywhere close to metal your compass will be getting pulled WAY off!

          Latitude 40° 0.000'N Longitude 75° 0.000'W

                       Sat Name Sat Lng Az(t) Az(m)   El  Skew
--------------------------------------------------------------
                               
                       Amos 1/2    4.0W 102.5 115.5  5.8 -48.4
                               
                Atlantic Bird 3    5.0W 103.2 116.1  6.5 -48.2
                               
                Nilesat 101/102    7.0W 104.6 117.5  8.1 -47.9
                               
     Telecom 2D/Atlantic Bird 2    8.0W 105.3 118.2  8.8 -47.6
                               
                     Express A3   11.0W 107.4 120.4 11.1 -47.0
                               
                 (C) Express A4   14.0W 109.6 122.6 13.3 -46.2
                               
                     Telstar 12   15.0W 110.4 123.3 14.1 -45.9
                               
                   Intelsat 901   18.0W 112.7 125.6 16.3 -45.0
                               
                          NSS 7   22.0W 115.8 128.8 19.2 -43.6
                               
                   Intelsat 905   24.5W 117.9 130.9 21.0 -42.6
                               
                   Intelsat 907   27.5W 120.5 133.5 23.2 -41.3
                               
                  Hispasat 1C/D   30.0W 122.7 135.7 24.9 -40.1
                               
                   Intelsat 801   31.5W 124.1 137.1 25.9 -39.4
                               
                   Intelsat 903   34.5W 127.0 139.9 27.9 -37.7
                               
                     (C) AMC 12   37.5W 130.0 142.9 29.9 -36.0
                               
                        NSS 806   40.5W 133.1 146.1 31.8 -34.0
                               
                      Pas 3R/6B   43.0W 135.8 148.8 33.2 -32.3
                               
                         Pas 1R   45.0W 138.1 151.0 34.4 -30.8
                               
               (C) Intelsat 705   50.0W 144.0 157.0 37.0 -26.7
                               
                   Intelsat 707   53.0W 147.8 160.8 38.5 -24.1
                               
               (C) Intelsat 805   55.5W 151.1 164.1 39.5 -21.7
                               
                          Pas 9   58.0W 154.6 167.5 40.5 -19.2
                               
                       Amazonas   61.0W 158.8 171.8 41.5 -16.1
                               
                     EchoStar 3   61.5W 159.5 172.5 41.7 -15.5
                               
                      Rainbow 1   61.5W 159.5 172.5 41.7 -15.5
                               
               Estrela do Sul 1   63.0W 161.7 174.7 42.1 -13.9
                               
               (C) Brasilsat B2   65.0W 164.7 177.6 42.6 -11.7
                               
               (C) Brasilsat B1   70.0W 172.2 185.2 43.4  -5.9
                               
                       Nahuel 1   72.0W 175.3 188.3 43.6  -3.6
                               
                      DirecTV 1   72.5W 176.1 189.1 43.7  -3.0
                               
                          AMC 6   72.0W 175.3 188.3 43.6  -3.6
                               
                          SBS 6   74.0W 178.4 191.4 43.7  -1.2
                               
                 Echostar/G4R 4   77.0W 183.1 196.1 43.7   2.4
                               
                          AMC 5   79.0W 186.2 199.2 43.5   4.8
                               
                      Nimiq 2/3   82.0W 190.8 203.8 43.2   8.3
                               
                          AMC-9   83.0W 192.3 205.3 43.0   9.4
                               
                (C)Brasilsat B3   84.0W 193.8 206.8 42.8  10.6
                               
                          AMC 2   85.0W 195.3 208.3 42.6  11.7
                               
                          AMC 3   87.0W 198.3 211.3 42.1  13.9
                               
                           IA-8   89.0W 201.2 214.2 41.5  16.1
                               
                      Galaxy 11   91.0W 204.0 217.0 40.9  18.2
                               
                     Nimiq 1/4i   91.0W 204.0 217.0 40.9  18.2
                               
                (C)Brasilsat B4   92.0W 205.4 218.4 40.5  19.2
                               
                           IA-6   93.0W 206.8 219.8 40.1  20.2
                               
                      Galaxy 3C   95.0W 209.5 222.5 39.3  22.2
                               
                           IA-5   97.0W 212.2 225.1 38.5  24.1
                               
                      Galaxy 16   99.0W 214.7 227.7 37.5  25.9
                               
                     Spaceway 2   99.2W 215.0 227.9 37.4  26.0
                               
                DirecTV 1R/4S/8  101.0W 217.2 230.2 36.5  27.6
                               
                          AMC 4  101.0W 217.2 230.2 36.5  27.6
                               
                     Spaceway 1  103.0W 219.6 232.6 35.5  29.2
                               
                          AMC 1  103.0W 219.6 232.6 35.5  29.2
                               
                         AMC 15  105.0W 221.9 234.9 34.4  30.8
                               
                       Anik F1R  107.3W 224.5 237.5 33.1  32.5
                               
                     (C) AnikF1  107.3W 224.5 237.5 33.1  32.5
                               
                      DirecTV 5  109.5W 226.9 239.9 31.8  34.0
                               
                  EchoStar 8/10  110.0W 227.4 240.4 31.5  34.4
                               
                        Anik F2  111.1W 228.6 241.6 30.8  35.1
                               
                       SatMex 6  113.0W 230.6 243.5 29.6  36.3
                               
                  Solidaridad 2  114.9W 232.4 245.4 28.3  37.4
                               
                       SatMex 5  116.8W 234.3 247.3 27.1  38.5
                               
                         AMC-16  119.0W 236.4 249.3 25.6  39.6
                               
                     DirecTV 7s  119.0W 236.4 249.3 25.6  39.6
                               
                     EchoStar 7  119.0W 236.4 249.3 25.6  39.6
                               
          EchoStar 9/Telstar 13  121.0W 238.2 251.1 24.2  40.6
                               
                     Galaxy 10R  123.0W 239.9 252.9 22.8  41.5
                               
                  (C) Galaxy 14  125.0W 241.7 254.6 21.4  42.4
                               
                   Galaxy 13/H1  127.0W 243.3 256.3 20.0  43.2
                               
 Intelsat Americas 7/Echostar 5  129.0W 245.0 257.9 18.5  44.0
                               
                     (C) AMC 11  131.0W 246.6 259.5 17.0  44.7
                               
                  (C) Galaxy 15  133.0W 248.1 261.1 15.6  45.3
                               
                     (C) AMC 10  135.0W 249.6 262.6 14.1  45.9
                               
                      (C) AMC 7  137.0W 251.1 264.1 12.6  46.5
                               
                      (C) AMC 8  139.0W 252.6 265.6 11.1  47.0
                               
                   EchoStar 1/2  148.0W 258.9 271.9  4.3  48.7

       Satellite Finder is (c) Copyright 2004, P. Lutus

 

[zazu]

SBS6orAMC3

ok, i think i finally hit pay dirt after being at this a few days,my closet sat to true south in SBS6,( again i am in NJ 08060), but i did not pull in Ohio News Network??is that gone?
but i tdid pullin some NBCnews feeds,and since there is no way for me to really know if i am on SBS6?? and other than ONN, there is nothing really listed there but feeds, i went on..
the fact that i NEED AMC3, for PBS, i went ahead moved the motor on the geosat 90cm, but after a blind scan only a few HD channels came in listed as Nagravision BellVu Expresss???
any thoughts or help???thanks, also has anyone blind scanned SBS6 lately so if they can tell what WILD ( even in a PM)is there so i can know if i hit it??